The eastern subalpine warbler (''Curruca cantillans'') is a small

typical warbler The typical warblers are small birds belonging to the genus ''Sylvia'' in the "Old World warbler" (or sylviid warbler) family Sylviidae.Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A., & Christie, D. (editors). (2006). ''Handbook of the Birds of the World''. Volume 1 ...

which breeds in the southernmost areas of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It was first described by the German naturalist

Peter Simon Pallas Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussia, Prussian zoologist, botanist, Ethnography, ethnographer, Exploration, explorer, Geography, geographer, Geology, geologist, Natura ...

in 1764 and given the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Motacilla cantillans''. The specific ''cantillans'' is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "warbling" from ''canere'', "to sing". Like most ''Curruca''

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, it has distinct male and female

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

s. The adult male has a grey back and head, brick-red underparts, and white malar streaks ("moustaches"). The female is mainly brown above, with a greyer head, and whitish below with a pink flush. The subalpine warbler's song is fast and rattling, and is similar to the

lesser whitethroat The lesser whitethroat (''Curruca curruca'') is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in the western and central Palearctic. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, winterin ...

. This bird seems to be related to the

Sardinian warbler The Sardinian warbler (''Curruca melanocephala'') is a common and widespread typical warbler from the Mediterranean region. Like most ''Curruca'' species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male has a grey back, whitish underpart ...

- Menetries' warbler superspecies. They all have white malar areas, the heads being dark above in adult males, and naked eye-rings. These three species are related to a superspecies consisting of Rüppell's warbler and the Cyprus warbler, which also share the white malar area with blackish above (Shirihai et al. 2001,Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus ''Sylvia'', pp. 24 – 30 in: Shirihai, Hadoram, Gabriel Gargallo and Andrea J. Helbig (2001) ''Sylvia warblers: Identification, taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus Sylvia''

Helm Identification Guides The ''Helm Identification Guides'' are a series of books that identify groups of bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Ovi ...

Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006 ). The subalpine warbler is divided into two distinct

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

groups, which may possibly be sufficiently diverged to qualify as two separate

(Shirihai et al. 2001). The two groups have differing male plumages, distinctive calls, and are

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

; on this particular issue, further study is needed. In May 2020, the IOC world bird list recognised the split of western and eastern subalpine warblers into two distinct species. Moltoni's warbler was formerly considered conspecific. The eastern subalpine warbler differs from the

western subalpine warbler The western subalpine warbler (''Curruca iberiae'') is a small typical warbler which breeds in the southernmost areas of Europe and north-western Africa. Like most ''Curruca'' species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male has ...

by its deeper blue-grey upperparts, a blackish mask on the lores and ear-coverts, brick reddish-brown coloration confined to the throat and breast and sharply demarcated from a largely white belly, paler flanks and a wider white submoustachial stripe.Duquet, Marc and Amine Flitti (2007) Éléments d'identification de la Fauvette passerinette orientale ylvia cantillans albistriata'' Ornithos'' Vol. 14, no. 3, pages 164 – 171 (in French) This is a bird of dry open country, often on hill slopes, with bushes for nesting. The nest is built in low shrub or

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...

, and 3–5

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s are laid. Like most "

warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers T ...

s", it is

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

, but will also take berries.

Habitat and ecology

This species prefers tall and dense heterogeneous maquis with sparse tree cover in dry Mediterranean areas, particularly maquis of holm oak (''Quercus ilex'') and those dominated by strawberry tree (''Arbutus'') and tree-heath (''Erica''). It is also frequently found in young cork oak (''Quercus suber'') forest and in dense but treeless bushy areas. It uses bushy formations dominated by brambles (''Rubus fruticosus'') along sunny ravines and valley bottoms and prefers the intermediate stages of post-wildfire succession. Breeding occurs from late March to late June and the species is monogamous. The male constructs several 'cock nests' but both sexes build the breeding nest which is a deep, robust cup of grasses, thin roots and leaves and lined with finer grasses, rootlets and hair. It is placed in low scrub, a bush or small tree, c. 30–130 cm above the ground. Clutches are three to five eggs. The diet is mostly small insects and their larvae but outside of the breeding season berries and fruits are also taken.

References

External links

Ageing and sexing (PDF; 3.8 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze

Avibase
{{Taxonbar, from=Q110257508, from2=Q738687 Curruca Birds of Southern Europe Birds described in 1764 Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas

Habitat and ecology

References

Further reading

External links